The virtual lands that emerged with the metaverse fury became silent after millions of dollar volumes.
The concept of the metaverse was introduced in 1992 with the book Snow Crash, published by Neal Stephenson. The desire for expansion of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has led to the inclusion of this concept in the crypto industry as well. The startups that started with the Meta (Facebook) company created a billion-dollar industry after a while. This development on the Metaverse side has also led to the emergence of blockchain-based Metaverse plots. As Coinkolik, we asked Sebastien Borget, Co-Founder of The Sandbox, and Sam Hamilton, Creative Director of Decentraland, about Metaverse lands. So what happened to the lands from this paradise?
Furya Created by Metaverse Terrains
Cryptocurrency investors have set their budgets to be present in every sector with the bull season. With the fast-moving crypto bull at that time, the product range also expanded. The crypto industry has entered a rather colorful period with an integration like Metaverse.
Mark Zuckerberg’s company, Meta, had ignited the fuse by saying that it would focus on Metaverse studies. Metaverse, which attracts millions of investors and reaches billions of dollars in volumes, continues to be adopted even though it is silent.
The Metaverse land rush, which started in 2020, recorded remarkable growth until 2021. Projects such as Sandbox and Decentraland also came to the fore in this period. As a result of the increasing popularity, many famous names and corporate companies made investments to enter this field. Global investors did not hesitate to invest thousands or even millions of dollars to buy land from the virtual world.
Metaverse plots with an NFT structure played an important role in functionality in the virtual world. The sector, which is seen as a new technological revolution and development, managed to reach a billion-dollar value in a short time.
Decentraland and Sandbox have been the projects that have been pulling the strings for the Metaverse terrains. Two crypto projects managed to dominate the industry in a short time with their moves in this regard.
The Downswing of the Metaverse Terrains
It has been a remarkable fact that the crypto industry has developed and expanded over the years. After decentralized smart contracts, NFTs, Metaverse and GameFi, artificial intelligence now comes to the fore. The crypto industry, which evolves into different sectors every year, managed to reach the summit in Metaverse.
Metaverse lands have become a global trend that creates imagination and expectation. Investors from almost every country have bought at least one virtual land so as not to miss the opportunity. In particular, Turkey was one of the most active countries in this field.
The bursting point of the Metaverse lands began with the involvement of global companies like Adidas and Nike. Hundreds of big companies and corporate names have started buying virtual land from popular cryptocurrency projects. The sector, which has grown with investments and initiatives led by Meta, has attracted the attention of even countries. The whole world wanted to create a virtual ‘world’ in the Metaverse lands.
However, Metaverse, which is still in its infancy, did not guarantee whether the virtual plots would become ownership after they were sold. Investors who bought these plots were buying an NFT product and were waiting for it to increase in value. The complacency created by the crypto bull market made us think that every investment would reach ridiculous values. However, Bitcoin, which fell from the level of 69 thousand dollars, brought the bear market with it.
Fear, panic and money losses created by the bear market have put the entire crypto industry under pressure. The Metaverse industry was also affected by this situation. Virtual plots, sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, fell into silence as the bear market affected projects selling land. Metaverse, which has been in decline since 2021, has lost billions of dollars with the depreciation of cryptocurrencies.
In these market conditions, Decentraland and Sandbox continued to dominate and gain momentum. The projects came to the fore with important developments and strong partnerships. Despite the turbulent progress of other cryptocurrency projects, Decentraland and Sandbox have not strayed.
The fast rising, fast crashing and fast recovering Metaverse continued to gain strength in 2022 as well. Metaverse lands have been one of the top performing crypto sectors despite all the hard times. Virtual lands, which reached a sale of close to 500 million dollars in 2021, closed the year 2022 at the level of 1.4 billion dollars. In short, last year has been a year of growth and development in terms of Metaverse and virtual plots.
The Future of Metaverse Lands
It is predicted that Metaverse lands, which reached a sales level of close to 1.4 billion dollars in 2022, will be adopted more in the coming years. Despite the loss of thousands of investors during the fast-starting period, it was remarkable that solid projects tried to improve the sector. Virtual plots integrated with NFT are on the rise with a parallel acceleration.
At Coinkolik, we asked Sebastien Borget, Co-Founder of The Sandbox, what he thinks about the future of Metaverse lands. Borget claimed that all sectors in the world will be strengthened with Metaverse. Making a parallel evaluation with Web3, Borget said;
Metaverse will empower all industries, from gaming and entertainment to education, business, commerce and socialization. While millions of people create their own Avatars; A social and technological revolution is taking place as we begin to explore more social and immersive experiences. Web3 and Metaverse; It enables everyone to discover a digital fantasy world where they can choose the experiences they want to live. As more players enter the Metaverse and the ecosystem matures and our creators’ economy scales, we’re poised to see greater returns in terms of both entertainment and monetization.
Decentraland Creative Director Sam HamiltonMetaverse, in parallel with the NFT sector, is promising for the future. In the near future, Metaverse is expected to reach billions of people with VR/AR devices and solid infrastructure.
We also received an opinion on this issue from Decentraland. Decentraland Creative Director Sam HamiltonHe said about the future of Metaverse;
- “The Metaverse is the next version of the internet where social activities, work and education will be carried out in a 3D digital environment in the future.”
Regardless of the crypto industry and blockchain startups, Metaverse continues to be supported by many major companies around the world. Companies such as Microsoft, Meta, Adidas, Nike want this technology to develop further.
Although Meta has lost billions of dollars from its investments in this sector, it has not lost hope. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that he believes Metaverse has a future and is not afraid to invest.
However, there are some obstacles in front of this sector. The most striking of these was the legal dimension of the business and the situation where the countries met on a common ground.
Use of Metaverse Lands
Metaverse lands has become a far-reaching industry of almost 1 million virtual lands. The industry, which was initially supported by hundreds of projects, was able to survive with only major projects after the bear market. One of the most important reasons for the survival of the Metaverse sector was the disappearance of unqualified projects in the sector.
Many unskilled and unsuccessful projects made huge profits with the virtual lands they sold to their investors. However, the projects that did not use these earnings properly and did not offer a future began to sink into the dusty pages of history. Thousands of projects from Turkey, such as those selling land for cities, selling regional plots with the logic of war games, and selling land with the logic of space, were lost by making investors aggrieved.
After all this, the only question that comes to mind is how the Metaverse lands will be used in the future. We posed this question to Sebastien Borget, CEO of The Sandbox. Borget said:
Co-Founder of The Sandbox Sebastian BorgetBecause The Sandbox platform is still in Beta and is being very actively developed, we carefully select brands and user-generated content that go live during events and seasons. This was a necessary first step to increase participation and focus on quality. Our main goal this year is for LAND owners to be able to post content on their LAND and take advantage of monetization to attract players through gaming, art, social, fashion, music and other experiences. Then we can see the Creator Economy really take off. We hope to see more adoption as the available content increases. We will continue to add helpful features, including publishing, so LAND owners can start doing just that.
Based on Borget’s thoughts, it is possible to say that the essence of the job is to create an economy for content creators. Big projects that attract the attention of institutions and countries are looking for ways to develop Metaverse lands. The plots, which have been focused on sales and developments since 2020, are being developed for a realistic experience.
In these turbulent times of the Metaverse lands, it was a matter of curiosity how it would be in the future. Sam Hamilton, Creative Director of Decentraland, answered our question on this topic. Setting off from his project, Hamilton stated that they are still at the beginning of the road and that the industry will continue to develop. He also added that Decentraland has overcome the problems and they are building more than 50 percent of Genesis City.
Shortcomings of Metaverse Lands
Metaverse lands, an innovative and technological breakthrough, have gone through very difficult times on this journey where it has reached billions of dollars in value. The most significant period was the loss of reputation due to fraud and bad actors. Crypto investors in the industry have called all Metaverse lands a ‘Land from Heaven’. The fact that this transaction, which was previously done in the real world, is now hidden on the blockchain side aroused suspicion.
The biggest shortfall experienced by virtual plots has been regulatory and supervisory, as in other crypto industries. Virtual lands, which can be bought and sold easily, have not undergone any regulation. This sector, which is seen as integrated with NFTs, has not yet been a technology that countries can fully understand.
Sebastien Borget, Co-Founder of The Sandbox stated that the best way to eliminate the deficiencies and gain reputation is to invest in this sector. Borget, who manages one of the largest Metaverse projects, said the following on the subject;
We are not seeing a decline in the virtual real estate industry, quite the opposite, as LANDS is one of the most comprehensive NFT categories in terms of use cases. Buyers will often develop various projects and activities on top of them. To improve this, The Sandbox will invest in developers to develop the open Metaverse ecosystem.
Sam Hamilton, Creative Director of Decentraland also stated that Decentraland is focused on development and growth. Hamilton noted that market dips and rises follow a rapid cycle of hype. Arguing that the decline is inevitable due to the cycles and for some reasons, Hamilton claimed that the acceleration did not decrease despite all this turbulent period. Hamilton also stated that a new person joins their community every day.
In order for the sector to grow and develop, regulations, unlike investments and developments, need to be brought to the table. It has become an important factor that the environments in which large companies buy virtual land also instill confidence in small investors. Ensuring these situations can also lead to wider use of virtual plots.
Metaverse Lands in the Focus of Institutions
Metaverse plots, which are supported by blockchain networks and used with graphical arguments, started to arrive at around 1 million. However, all these virtual lands could not reach the level that would satisfy their investors. Only the pioneers of the industry continue to take the largest share of the market, with the effect of their dominance. Because these projects are supported by the actors of the traditional and global economy.
The growth and development of Metaverse lands has come about with the interest of corporations. Popular companies from all over the world began to buy virtual plots from large projects.
The SandboxCo-Founder Sebastian Borget We asked about the approaches of corporations to virtual lands. Speaking about the companies participating in the platform, Borget stated that they have established partnerships with more than 400 brands and companies in different sectors in many regions of the world. The manager pointed out that these companies are aware of the potential of the metaverse in terms of content and creativity. According to Borget, companies want to establish a foothold for it.
DecentralandWe got a similar response from
Hamilton underlined that companies preparing for the future already have a Metaverse strategy. According to Hamilton, global companies want to prepare for the Metaverse as well. In addition, Hamilton stated that they are working with hundreds of brands with planned activations throughout the year.
The development of the sector and the involvement of institutions show that it can offer a more efficient and comprehensive Metaverse environment in the future. However, the processes experienced to date also reveal the pessimism about what investments made in the past will bring in terms of Metaverse lands.
